Canadian men's rugby team hopes to capitalize on soccer fever as its World Cup prep begins

As the World Rugby Nations Cup kicks off in Edmonton, the Canadian team can take a page from its soccer counterpart in generating buzz, says one of the team's veterans.

Canada plays the first of three rugby matches at home on Saturday against Spain at Edmonton's Clarke Stadium.

The Canadians host Portugal in Edmonton on July 11, before facing Zimbabwe on July 18, at Winnipeg's Princess Auto Stadium.

The matches are part of the inaugural Nations Cup, a biennial competition featuring 12 countries already qualified for the 2027 World Cup in Australia.

Saturday evening's match against Spain in Edmonton starts a few hours after the Canadian men's soccer team plays a round-of-16 knockout match against Morocco in the FIFA World Cup. That game is being played in Houston.

"What our soccer team has done is amazing. They've kind of created their own destiny, their own pride wearing a soccer jersey," said hooker Andrew Quattrin.

"There's a bit of that that we need to do. Our World Cup, in quotes, probably starts this Saturday, in terms of we need to make some buzz about that."

Canada fell short of a berth in the 2023 Rugby World Cup in France, and didn't participate for the first time in tournament history.

The 29-year-old Quattrin is among a handful of Canadian veterans who played in the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

"Now that the team's qualified, I would say that there's a good energy among the crew," he said. "Being pretty fortunate to go to 2019, it's actually quite amazing because I don't think the guys really know what's in store yet

"I wish I could just capture that experience in a bottle and just have a sip of it every six months when you're feeling down because it's just such a great experience, so amazing, you just want to